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Better Times Are Coming?

By Eric Martin and Lynn Thomasson

April 10 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose for a fifth week, capping the steepest rally since 1933, as Wells Fargo & Co.’s higher-than-estimated earnings and speculation banks will pass government stress tests spurred optimism that the industry’s slump is ending.

Bank of America Corp., American Express Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. helped drive a gauge of 80 financial companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a 9.4 percent advance. Wells Fargo surged 20 percent after reporting record first-quarter profit. Lincoln National Corp. and Principal Financial Group Inc. jumped at least 37 percent as the Treasury considered bailouts for life insurers.

“This was a really, really positive start to the earnings season,” Hugh Johnson, who oversees $750 million as chairman of Johnson Illington Advisors in Albany, New York, told Bloomberg Television. “Banks are not going to be forced to take the kind of write-offs they had to take in prior quarters.”

The S&P 500 gained 1.7 percent to 856.56. It has soared 27 percent since March 9, the most in 23 days since the Great Depression, according to Howard Silverblatt, an analyst at S&P. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.8 percent to 8,083.38 this week. U.S. exchanges are closed today for Good Friday.

The highest U.S. unemployment since 1983 has forced consumers to restrain spending. The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment insurance exceeded 600,000 for a 10th straight week. The total collecting benefits rose to a record in a sign that the labor market remains weak.

Solar Power and Labor Unions

The appointment on Rep. Dina Titus’ calendar last Saturday didn’t appear controversial at first glance.

She was to tour the new 10-megawatt Boulder City Sempra Generation plant — the largest solar power plant in North America to use widely praised thin-film technology. The project also produced the kind of environmentally friendly jobs that elected officials covet and tout.

Yet Titus soon realized that she was wading into a political firestorm.

In Carson City, Nevada legislators had blasted Sempra for its hiring practices, part of an intensifying debate here and nationwide over who is to benefit from growing state and federal renewable energy incentives aimed at saving not only the environment but also the economy.

Titus was a last minute no-show at Sempra.

Sempra had provoked the ire of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers for hiring nonunion electricians, who the union insists were not properly certified to install photovoltaic panels. (Sempra spokesman Art Larson said he wasn’t aware of and couldn’t respond to those accusations).

Building Trades, IBEW and AFL-CIO representatives said although they have told politicians not to visit Acciona’s plant, they do not have the same request regarding Sempra.

New Polar Research Station is Powered by Wind Turbines and Solar Panels

PRINCESS ELISABETH BASE, Antarctica – The world’s first zero-emission polar research station opened in Antarctica and was welcomed by scientists as proof that alternative energy is viable even in the coldest regions.

Pioneers of Belgium’s Princess Elisabeth station in East Antarctica said if a station could rely on wind and solar power in Antarctica — mostly a vast, icy emptiness — it would undercut arguments by skeptics that green power is not reliable.

Global warming, spurred by greenhouse gas emissions, has prompted governments to look for alternative energy sources. And renewable energies are gaining a foothold in Antarctica, despite problems in designing installations to survive bone-chilling cold and winter darkness.

Wind and even solar power are catching on — solar panels on the Antarctic Peninsula can collect as much energy in a year as many places in Europe.

Thomas Leysen, chairman of Belgium’s Umicore, a leading manufacturer of catalysts for cars who attended the ceremony, said it made good business sense for companies to help protect the environment.

“The global credit crisis is a result of unsustainable behavior. We can’t deal in an unsustainable way with our planet otherwise we will also face a crisis which will be even bigger than the credit crisis,” he said.

More Green Jobs Coming to Michigan Soon

The same week that automakers sought billions in aid to avoid bankruptcy, two states, including Michigan, announced huge alternative power industry investments, with one site being built on land once set aside to lure auto manufacturers.

Manufacturing strongholds hardest hit by job losses years ago began laying the groundwork to land green jobs and may now be poised for the biggest gains, depending on federal economic stimulus funding.

The $900 billion economic package before Congress has more than $50 billion in energy-related incentives.

Oil Fell Below $100 a Barrel on Friday Yet Gasoline Continues to Rise

NEW YORK (AP) – The worst oil shock since the 1970s has put a permanent mark on the American way of life that even a drop in oil’s price below $100 a barrel won’t erase.Public transportation is in. Hummers are out. Frugality is in. Wastefulness is out.

Although oil prices dipped beneath the $100 mark Friday for the first time in five months, it still isn’t cheap and Americans have long memories. They are saddled with debt, high food costs and home prices worth far less than two years ago.

Experts say some relief at the pump is probably coming within weeks after light, sweet crude fell to $99.99 before closing later at $101.18, up 31 cents. But the era of “staycations,” four-day work weeks, airline fuel surcharges and costly commutes could be here to stay.

“We’re not going back to $2-a-gallon gasoline,” said Stephen Schork, an analyst and energy trader in Villanova, Pa. “Consumers have to appreciate that the low prices we had before didn’t reflect the price of crude, so there will be a limit to how much prices will come down.”

And some more bad news: Food prices, plane tickets and plastic goods made from petrochemical products aren’t expected to get much cheaper either. The softening U.S. economy means food makers, airlines and manufacturers are unlikely to roll back recent price increases for goods and services anytime soon.

Although the hurricane is keeping gas prices high, it’s not doing the same for oil, as it has in the past. Neither are geopolitical flare-ups involving Russia and Venezuela.

Many analysts say that’s because speculative investors—not rising demand—pushed oil prices to record levels this summer.

Gore Calls for Carbon Free Power Within Decade

WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Al Gore said on Thursday that Americans must abandon electricity generated by fossil fuels within a decade and rely on the sun, the winds and other environmentally friendly sources of power, or risk losing their national security as well as their creature comforts.

“The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk,” Mr. Gore said in a speech to an energy conference here. “The future of human civilization is at stake.”

Solar Power and Renewable Energy, It’s All About the Money

Although the renewable energy industry saw over US $100 billion in global market activity, 14 percent of global venture capital investment and accounted for roughly one-third of new U.S. electrical generation capacity last year, the industry is still very far from maturation. But America’s financial leaders are helping change that.

All risks considered, the world’s leading investors are recognizing that a transition to a clean energy economy is the single biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century — and possibly the biggest economic opportunity ever.

The U.S. represents one of the largest renewable energy markets, so merchant bankers, private equity firms and venture capitalists are all educating themselves about how to navigate this immature yet promising marketplace and make the right decisions to drive the industry forward. REFF is an event designed to give financiers the tools to invest in this increasingly complicated space.